In this issue brief, SHARE grantee Joel Cantor and co-authors use data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) to evaluate the impact of dependent coverage expansion initiatives in 19 states on health insurance coverage of young adults between 2003 and 2008. The authors also examine the variation in impact among population subgroups over time.  The report concludes with a discussion of the implications of national health reform, which expanded dependent coverage to age 26 across states.

This brief is a companion to the authors' January 2010 technical brief on the same topic.  The earlier brief detailed common dependent coverage provisions in different states and addressed methodological issues, such as measurement bias and the calculation of impact estimates.  The first brief can be found at http://www.shadac.org/publications/DependentCoverageExpansions.